In
week 11 we learned about social justice and how to differentiate between equity
and equality. Before looking further into this topic I was aware of these terms
but did not know how to distinguish the difference between them. From the
articles in class, Braveman and Gruskin (2003) state “ equity means social justice
or fairness; it is an ethical concept, grounded in principles of distributive
justice” (p.254). When differentiating equality Braveman and Gruskin describe
it to be “assessed with respect to specified measurable outcomes” (p.255).
This
weeks group facilitation did an excellent job using photos and words to teach
the class the difference and meaning behind both these terms. Here is the
picture they used in their presentation.
This picture
depicts how equity involves fairness amongst everyone and how equality means
that although we are equal (everyone has the same resources), this is not
always fair. The group also used an example for those who are hands on
learners. They divided the class into three sections based on lower, middle and higher class
economic status and distributed chocolate coins to each. By taking away the
higher economics group coins and giving it the lower, the students were able to
even out the coins equally to each economic status group creating equity.
However, this raises an issue for the higher economic status people. This population may feel that they worked harder than the other groups to gain these
coins and it is not fair when they are taken away and distributed amongst the
lower groups. From this activity I am able to understand why the higher
economic status would favour equality and the lower group would prefer equity,
as it would benefit them more and put them at an equal status with the higher
people. When I think about which a health care provider would advocate for, it
is now easy for me to see how equity exceeds equality. Nurses focus on
individual needs and what may be beneficial for someone may not be the same for
another person. If we strived for equality this would mean we see everyone as
the same, and this is not true in nursing.
The
concepts of equity and equality shape our understanding of social justice as
they come hand in hand. The Canadian Nurses Association (2009) states “social
justice means the fair distribution of resources and responsibilities among the
members of a population” (p.2). Social justice strives for equal opportunities
to be healthy among individuals from different populations. Equity may result
in equality as it brings everyone back to a same level, but you cannot have
equality and it result in equity. Understanding this notion will aid nurses in
our practice and how we advocate and provide care to clients.
This
week our professor did something different and played a voice clip for the
class. The dialogue between the two women discussed how students who had
background knowledge on technology were more likely than those who did not to
browse different sources online and compare information. Upon reflection I
consider myself to be information rich. I think this because my generation of
young adults are surrounded by technology and throughout my education I have
been required to use this and learn how to adapt to new advances. When debating
if HITs fill in the gap of social justice or cause bigger gaps I took education
in technology as a considerable factor. If HITs are introduced into healthcare
there are some populations that will automatically have an advance over others.
Those who would be challenged are the elderly or older adults. As they did not
grow up with this form of technology they may find it difficult to understand
and work such devices. Once this health technology is introduced, it would only
be until years later until social justice can be achieved for everyone, as they
are growing alongside the advances in health care and technology.
Here
is another comic picture for you to better understand the difference between
equity and equality. Here the rich man thinks that by giving the poor
population the same amount of pie as him that this is fair and will make them
equal. However, although the same amount of resources are split among the two
parties, one of them (the poor) are not being benefitted or having their needs
met.
References
Braveman, P., & Gruskin, S. (2003). Defining equity in health.
Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health, 57(4),
254–258. doi: 10.1136/jech.57.4.254
Canadian Nurses Association. (2009). Social justice in practice. Ethics in Practice for Registered
Nurses. Retrieved from http://www.cna-
Dochasnetwork’s Blog. (2013). The world we want: Equality and
equity? Retrieved from
http://dochasnetwork.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/the-world-we-want-equality-and-equity/
McMurphy, A., Monteiro, J., Nguyen, C., & McBride, C. (2013). Social justice. [PowerPoint
slides]. Retrieved from
https://www.fanshaweonline.ca/d2l/le/content/574917/viewContent/3008203/View
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